NEPC AIRLINES, LTD.: India (1993-1999). NEPC is established at Madras by NEPC Micon, Ltd. in the spring of 1993 and is the first private Indian airline to apply for a license and earn scheduled carrier status. With a workforce of 758, Executive Director Tirupathi Kumar also acquires a fleet of 5 Fokker F.27-500s from Ansett Worldwide and 1 Beech King Air 90C.
Revenue flights commence on March 30, 1994 to destinations in the western state of Tamil Nadu. Over the next 9 months, a total of 128,877 passengers are boarded.
During the first quarter of 1995, the company opens a private airfield at Tirunelveli and begins construction on new hangar facilities there, which will open in October. Four additional used F.27-500s are also added.
By spring, the number of destinations served in the south and west of the country has grown to 45.
The former Damania Airways, Ltd. is taken over in May and becomes a subsidiary that operates under the name Skyline NEPC, Ltd. Both will fly as divisions of NEPC India, Ltd.
The new corporate arrangement, which includes both a 4.5% equity investment in Damania and an assumption of liabilities, will be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, as the stake taken is less than the mandatory 5% acquisition required.
On September 1, the company enters into an interline agreement with Swissair, A. G. Under terms of the arrangement, the Swiss flag carrier will maintain the NEPC fleet and train its personnel, while the Indian company becomes the Swissair agent in India. Two new Fokker 50s join the fleet during the fall.
Enplanements total 432,671.
The fleet in 1996 includes 9 Friendships and 1 King Air. A management contract is signed during the spring to operate UP Air, Ltd. With its sister Skyline NEPC, Ltd., NEPC Airlines is the second largest domestic airline in India after Indian Airlines, Ltd.
Destinations visited include Agatti, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bal-gaum, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Bombay, Chennai, Cochin, Combatore, Delhi, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Handla, Kanpur, Lakshwadeep, Madras, Madurai, Patna, Pune, Rajamundry, Salem, Tiruchi, Trivandrum, Vjayawada, Visakhapatnam, and Vizag.
Daily roundtrips are introduced on November 1 from Chennai to Tuticorin.
Passenger boardings dip 4.5% to 414,040 and revenues reach $41.6 million.
In January 1997, the Director General of Civil Aviation orders that NEPC reduce its operations over its trunk routes. The government claims that NEPC has failed to provide sufficient services on required subsistence routes in the nation’s northeast.
Additionally, it is claimed that the company, together with its Skyline NEPC, Ltd. subsidiary, owe some $4 million to the government in internal passenger taxes collected but not turned over. To press the issue, customs officials seize an F.27-500.
World History
